I hate it when my lower back tightens up!
Usually it’s my Quadratus Lumborum in my case it just seems to be from years of use and abuse. Not to mention a bulged disk and stress fractures in my L4-L5 from years of football,improper squats, gymnastics and just beating my body up. I remember doing squats, and the most important thing about squats wasn’t my form. My coaches including myself were more fixated on how much weight I was squatting. Yes the old days, ahh…… Thank goodness that is all changing. Now you know why I’m such a stickler on form!
Those of you that train with me will recognize the following stretch:
I have a new favorite stretch to add to our cooldowns and here is the lowdown on why and how to do it. I am very happy to have met Andrea Ducane at my RKC seminar (yes kettlebells) she was a wealth of knowledge. The stretch she was so set on having us do and do it right was the hip flexor stretch. She was so right in pointing out that most people do it wrong. I totally agree with her. Here is how to do it and do it right. I have copied the information directly from her blog for you to view here. If you wish to visit her blog please do so!
Master RKC Andrea Du Cane on the Hip Flexor Stretch
“The Hip Flexor stretch is the single most beneficial tool for lower back tightness and pain and hip and groin pain.
What it does is stretch the illiopsas and hip flexor muscles. These muscles attach at the lower back and pelvis. So if they are tight they pull on the lower back and sacrum causing pain and more flexion, which then causes even more pain and problems.
So doing the Hip Flexor stretch at least once a day will alleviate much of the lower back pain people experience. [!!!!]
It is also very important to stretch out after exercise and you can also do the stretch before performing your front squats to “unlock” the hips to get down deeper.”
Senior RKC Mark Toomey (my instructor from my 3 day beating) also suggest adding a static hang from a pull up bar and rolling around on the floor with your hands over your head, which is also a fun thing to do anyway.
Part 2: How and When to do the Hip Flexor Stretch, or, The RKC Hip Flexor Stretch
Talking about why the hip flexor stretch is essential for most people to eliminate low back issues and not sharing the details of the RKC Hip Flexor Stretch would not be right.
It would be like someone telling you the best place to eat is a restaurant somewhere in lower town, go figure it out.
Here Andrea lays out the guidelines for executing a perfect RKC Hip Flexor Stretch. The Hip Flexor Stretches you see some people do (say, if you do a google image search) and the RKC Hip Flexor stretch differ only in the subtleties. On the outside, they look like the same move. But knowing these subtleties will give you a more effective stretch.
In the restaurant analogy, knowing not just how but WHEN (how to program) the RKC Hip Flexor Stretch would be like not only knowing the best place in town to eat, where it is, and what to order…it is also like having the owner’s friend call ahead to let you know you are coming and to take care of you.
Andrea Du Cane, Master RKC Breaks it Down:
Hip Flexor Stretch: WHEN to do it, HOW to do it.
Start by kneeling with one leg forward on a soft surface with your hips squared straight ahead and level.
Your legs should be hip distance apart and should both follow imaginary parallel lines.
Place your hands on your hips or the small of your back. Squeeze your glutes and push forward with your pelvis; simultaneously reaching your head to the ceiling and LENGTHENING your spine.
Keep the posterior “tuck” of the pelvis as you move forward and only go as far as you can go without losing it.
Do not allow your forward knee to travel over your toes. Exhale as you go forward and inhale as you come back up, repeat a few times moving in and out of the stretch in a gentle rhythm.
Repeat on your other leg.
This stretch should be done after every workout [!!!], and if you are one of those extra tight through the hip you should do it before swings and squats.
If you are extremely tight, it should be done every day[!!!!!!].
Andrea I hope you don’t mind me sharing this with my tribe!
Kettlebell training is a total workout. Along with overall body training and cardio benefits, it also helps with recovery time by increaseing blood flow to the muscles, which in turn increases oxygen. The kettlebell also offers advantages through its unique weight distribution – with a handle that lowers the center of gravity for the weight, engaging muscles to work harder. This feature trains muscles to fire at a much quicker rate.
